When 17th Century Baroque composer Johann Pachelbel died, he cursed the descendants of his jailers with his last words: “Death is but a door. Time is but a window. I’ll be back.”
No, wait, those were the last words of Vigo the Carpathian in Ghostbusters 2. I don’t know what Pachelbel’s last words were. Probably something like “Nuremberg Wild Cats rule!” or “Organists do it with their hands and feet!” Maybe it was, “If it ain’t Baroque, don’t fix it!”
Canon in D’s influence in popular music is sometimes felt directly; sometimes it’s hinted at during a chord progression. Recently, I was paling around with my good friends Carla and Andrew. I was playing “Hook” on guitar when, with the aid of a change in time signature, tempo, and good ol’ fashioned Fleischman’s Whiskey, I wound up playing “Cryin’.” Carla and I wondered just who thought of this chord progression first, when Andrew mentioned both progressions seemed based on Taco Bell.
“Taco Bell?” I asked, suddenly craving nachos (remember, whiskey was involved).
“No, Pachelbel. Now start blogging, Dexter.”
Top 5 songs where Canon in D rears its head (but first, a special message on Taco Bell Pachelbel from theFiver):
1. “Hook,” Blues Traveler
2. “Cryin’,” Aerosmith
3. “Piano Man,” Billy Joel
4. “Basket Case,” Green Day
5. “Fullness of Wind (Variation on Canon in D),” Brian Eno
Runners Up: “All Together Now,” The Farm; ” “I’ll C U When U Get There,” Coolio.
I loved this post. I learned something and was entertained. Loved the accompanying Youtube video with you explaining the cord progression thing. Where is it? It should also live with this post.
I too need to see the Fiver’s own video of this phenomenon. Remember now, not all of us have given in to the peer pressure of Facebook.
Sorry! Forgot to include it. I’ll fix it up, right as rain.
The Fiver is my favorite place online for edutainment. I learn chord progressions, listen to music and learn what my opinion of that music is, it’s grrreat!